In addition to pushing the individual coverage enrollment deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23, separately on Friday, the administration also announced a schedule change in next year's open enrollment season.
It will start on Nov. 15, 2014, a month later than originally scheduled, and finish on Jan. 15, 2015, about five weeks later originally scheduled. The midterm congressional elections are Nov. 4, and congressional Republicans accused the administration of shifting the dates for political reasons, to hide a spike in 2015 premiums.
Read: Here we go again
Recommended For You
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called it a "cynical political move" that means "if premiums go through the roof in the first year of Obamacare, no one will know about it until after the election."
But if next year follows the same pattern as this year, there should be plenty of information available about 2015 premiums before the election. That's because many states post the data publicly. "We'll definitely start seeing some premiums earlier from state insurance departments," said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The administration says the change is to allow insurers more time to prepare and submit premiums.
However, there is one possible way that Democrats could benefit politically. If lighting strikes twice and the website sputters again during the next open enrollment season, that second act would not take place until after the voting is done.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
